Jelly: After That Day
by Musiclover125
Summary: The events following that fateful day. Is there hope of a reconciliation between Jen and Tilly?
1. Chapter 1

It had been weeks since they had even seen each other. Since that awful day at the bench, when Jen had left her, boosted her hopes and then shattered them. Now Tilly's exams were finished and it was the day she had to return to college to start her A2s. Tilly felt sick. She was quite looking forward to being back at college, to see everyone properly again and to start the new syllabus of work that she was looking forward to. But the thought of having to see Jen made Tilly's stomach churn. She knew it was inevitable that she would have to face her at some point, after all she was a teacher at the college. But she had been optimistically and naively convincing herself that they would somehow be able to avoid each other, avoid talking about what had happened on that day.

There was another part of Tilly that was excited to see Jen again. She didn't believe that Jen had just been able to let her go and put her out of her mind. There had been something different between them. Something fresh and exciting. Jen had tried to convince Tilly that this was down to her inexperience, but Tilly had refused to buy that. She knew that Jen felt the same way, but just didn't dare to show it. She wanted to touch Jen, be touched by her in return all the time. She couldn't get the thought of her out of her head. Jen was the first thing she thought about in the morning and the last thing she thought about at night, even if the thought was just a passing image through her head. She dreamed all the time about kissing Jen and Jen kissing her lovingly back. The dreams were beautifully vivid to the point where she could almost feel Jen's hands on the back of her neck, running through her hair, and then trailing down her back, tightening her grip around Tilly's waist and pulling her closer. She wanted to taste those lips again, feel Jen's body pressed against hers and breathe in the lush smell of her fruity perfume that so easily drove her wild.

It pained Tilly that she couldn't do this for real. She doubted that Jen would have changed her mind. Her career meant too much to her to risk it for Tilly. Tilly knew she felt the same, but knew that it wasn't enough for Jen to toss aside all her hard work. She was hoping that Jen would spare her when she returned to college by not leading her on and then pushing her away as she had previously done. She knew that she wouldn't be able to resist and that she would end up getting hurt again. Tilly vowed to keep close to Maddie, George and Sinead at college and not put herself in a position where she would be alone with Jen.

"Tilly darling, Maddie's here"

This was it. The first agonising day back at college. Tilly grabbed her bag and made her way reluctantly down the stairs. "What's the matter babe? I thought you'd be nerdily excited to be back at school" Maddie teased, poking her tongue out cheekily. "It's my job to be miserable". "I'm fine honestly. Just got to get used to the early mornings again" Tilly replied, the lie failing to sound convincing in her head. Hopefully it was to Maddie. "Come on let's go" She linked her arm through Maddie's and they both made their way out of the front door.

The walk to college was shorter than Tilly would have liked. She saw Jen's jeep parked in the car park and sighed quietly to herself, memories of that day on the beach flashing through her mind. "Hey you two!" Sinead shouted from behind the pair, snapping Tilly out of her thoughts. "Hey babe" Maddie replied to her as Sinead caught up to meet them, dragging Bart with her by the hand. "Isn't it crap being back at college?" Sinead groaned "And we've now got to start with all this Uni stuff". "I'd have thought you wouldn't mind Sinead?" Maddie started, and Tilly knew there was some form of sarcastic comment forming in her mind. "You do live with like...half the staff don't you?". "Ha ha very funny" Sinead replied, "Jen's leaving us soon anyway and I can't wait?". Suddenly the mention of Jen's name alerted Tilly, who had been letting everything skim over her to this point. "Jen's leaving? Why?" she asked. "I don't know. Something about being unhappy here and wanting to make a new start" Sinead answered. "I came home the other night and she was bawling her eyes out to my mum. I think she's just waiting to find a new placement". "Ah well, good riddance" Maddie commented, glancing knowingly towards Tilly, who desperately wanted to argue with her but couldn't. The group then began to talk about their exams and how they thought they had been, as they walked into college and into the common room. Tilly wasn't paying attention. She couldn't stop thinking about what Sinead had said about Jen. Why was she so unhappy? Tilly couldn't help wondering in a sad way if this was something to do with her. She felt awful. She had driven Jen away from her secure placement. She was a brilliant teacher and Tilly was sure that Keeler was going to offer her a more permanent position. Now Jen was sacrificing this all because Tilly was making her life difficult, trying to coax her into a relationship that was forbidden.

The bell rang and Tilly made her way to her first lesson. This was what she had been dreading. It was art and Jen would be taking the class. Tilly got half way down the corridor and realised that she hadn't been breathing for the duration of her journey. She walked into the class room, relieved to find it empty. She had been dreading being alone with Jen whilst waiting for the rest of the class to arrive- everyone was always as late for lessons as they could get away with. Tilly sat at one of the desks and looked through the messages on her phone. Maddie had texted her a minute ago "_Cheer up Tills. It'll be over soon and then we'll go shopping tonight. LYx" _Maddie obviously knew that something was the matter. It was quite obvious after all.

"Hi Tilly" Jen's nervous voice interrupted Tilly from her texting as she emerged from the art cupboard. "Morning Miss Gilmore" Tilly replied, trying to sound formal and convey the feel of a normal student-teacher relationship. "How were your exams?" Jen asked obviously just trying to make conversation and avoid the massive elephant in the room. Tilly just needed to ask.

"Why are you leaving?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Why are you leaving?"

"Tilly..." Jen was showing the pain on her face. Tilly was going to have to push her for an honest answer. "Are you leaving because of me?" Tilly urged. "Tilly, I..." Jen was looking uncomfortable. Her hands were held together protectively in front of her waist and she was trying so desperately to not look at her student. "I need you to tell me the truth Jen" Tilly continued to question her. "I'm not happy here Tilly" Jen stated cryptically. "But you love teaching here" Tilly said in disbelief, "You're passionate about teaching, everyone can see that". "I just need to move on Tilly. I need to move away and find a new placement somewhere else", Jen was still refusing to give Tilly reasons and was turning away from the student, trying her hardest to avoid the confrontation. "But what's changed Jen? You were happy here. Why all of a sudden have you decided that you can't be here anymore? You told me you didn't want to be with me and I've backed off, so why is there a problem? How in the last two weeks have you suddenly decided..."

"Because I can't stand not being with you, ok?" Jen forcefully interrupted Tilly's interrogation, spinning round to face the student, tears of distress forming in her eyes. "I haven't seen you for weeks Tilly and it's driving me crazy. I want to see you, I want to touch you and hold you and be with you and I can't!" Tilly could see Jen getting increasingly upset. She wanted to reach out and comfort her. "I miss you Tilly and I can't cope with it. I need to move away to get away from this all. I can't focus on my work and I need to. I really want my career to work and it won't unless I focus. And I can't do that whilst I'm constantly thinking about you" Jen turned away again, busying herself by aimlessly shuffling papers on her desk. "Jen?..." Tilly edged towards her. "Just leave me alone Tilly. I'll be gone in a couple of weeks, so until then just let me get on with my job" Jen asked, not wanting to turn round and look at the girl. "Jen please?..." Tilly moved closer towards her, placing her hand softly on her shoulder, and turning Jen around to face her. Jen's head was drooped and Tilly placed her hand under her chin, tilting it upwards to look into her eyes. Tears were streaming down Jen's face and Tilly wiped them away gently with her hand, bringing a small smile to Jen's lips. They maintained that position for a while, staring into each other's eyes, ignoring the outside world, just wanting to share one moment. Tilly moved closer towards Jen, her hand on her face softly pulling her into her. Her eyes shut in bliss as her lips touched Jen's, both sets of lips sealing what both had privately been praying for.

The kiss was gentle. Tilly's hand remained on Jen's face, gently stroking her cheek in a caring manner. Jen's hands had moved to Tilly's waist, almost to steady the pair from the giddiness of their kiss. There was no sense of urgency and they poured love rather than lust into the gesture. Tears continued to escape Jen's eyes, but they were no longer of distress, rather of relief and inexplainable joy at finally being united with the girl who had occupied her thoughts since she had met her. There was a definite sense of need, with both of them pressing into each other, having been kept apart for so long, but neither of them felt the desire to rush. They both wanted to cherish this blissful moment. Their lips eventually separated, but their foreheads remained touching and their eyes remained closed. They breathed in each other's scent and paused, both in awe of what they had just shared.

"I missed you too" Tilly whispered and with that Jen threw her arms around the student, pulling her into a tight, loving embrace. "I'm so sorry Tilly. I'm so sorry for what I did". Tilly gently shushed the teacher, nuzzling her face into her neck, placing delicate kisses onto the exposed skin, making Jen moan contentedly and bringing a smile to her face. "Tilly my class will be here in a minute, I need to clean my face up". Tilly reluctantly pulled away from Jen, but could not help but mirror the teacher's smile, placing a cheeky kiss on the teacher's nose and returning to her desk. Jen moved back into the office and the class started to pour into the classroom. Tilly's phone buzzed "_I need to see you after college. Meet me at the bench. Jx" _


	3. Chapter 3

Tilly had a grin etched on her face for the rest of the day. She was so excited to see Jen after college and felt like she had made a breakthrough with the teacher. It was obvious now that Jen reciprocated her feelings and they had both connected, kissing in Jen's classroom. Perhaps Jen was now coming round to the idea of the two of them being in a relationship. Tilly spent the whole day daydreaming about what was going to happen when she met with Jen. She caught herself in lessons being repeatedly nudged by Maddie to try and snap her back into reality from imagining Jen's arms around her neck, Jen's lips on hers and that feeling in the pit of her stomach when Jen was around. Tilly could almost feel the way Jen made her stomach turn and flip excitedly and the warmth that came over her when the teacher was around. She was desperate for the day to race by and it cruelly dragged. Eventually her final lesson arrived and Tilly spent the whole lesson clock-watching, urging the minute hand to speed up. Three thirty finally arrived and Tilly shot up at the exact moment the bell rang, soon joined by the rest of the students in her class who quickly packed away their things, relieved at the end of the school day.

She dashed speedily out of college and headed straight for the bench. This bench held painful memories for Tilly. This was where Jen had previously broken her heart. This was where her hopes of being able to love Jen, to hold her, to touch her and to care for her, had been diminished. Jen had taken her heart, started it racing and then ripped it out, trampled on it and left it broken. Now Tilly hoped that these memories would be rewritten. Hopefully, in an hours time she would be able to associate this spot with precious memories of love and union. Tilly glanced at her watch, wondering where Jen had got to. It was now half past four. Tilly had been sat on the bench dreaming and had not noticed that Jen had not arrived at the time agreed. Tilly stood up off the bench and began pacing in a similar way to what Jen had been doing when she had arrived to meet her on that fateful day. Tilly began to feel angry towards the teacher. It was happening again. Jen had once again led her on, given her hope of love and was now once again destroying it.

Tilly had been stupid to believe that Jen would have changed her mind. She was obviously naive to believe that a kiss was going to change things. She thought the kiss had meant a lot to both of them, that it had symbolised their reunion and admission of their feelings for each other. Tilly thought Jen had felt the same uncontrollable spark between them as she had done, but obviously not. She sat back down on the bench holding her head in her hands, despairing at the heartbreak that she was going to once again have to go through. She was once again going to have to go through sleepless nights of thinking about Jen, wishing they had never met.

"Hey" A murmuring voice snapped Tilly out of her angry stupour. It was Jen. Tilly looked up at the teacher, preparing to launch into an angry tirade about how fed up she was of being led on and then rejected. Jen looked visibly nervous and almost upset. "Where have you been Jen?" Tilly questioned, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice. She saw a tear escape from Jen's eye and as usual her annoyance was diminished by the care for the beautiful woman stood in front of her. "Jen, what's the matter?". "I nearly didn't come. I told myself that I shouldn't be getting into this, but I can't ignore it Tilly, I just can't". Jen replied, flustered. "It's ok...It's ok" Tilly reassured, taking Jen's hands into her own, stroking them comfortingly as she had done on that day. However, instead of pulling away this time, Jen moved closer to Tilly, her lips inches away from the student's. Tilly breathed in Jen's perfume, the scent sending her spiralling out of control. They both gave in to what they so desperately wanted to do.

Jen's lips slammed into Tilly's, both allowing themselves to consume each other entirely. This kiss was a lot more hungry than their previous, a lot less hesitant. This kiss was more about passion and need. This was about two women giving into to their desire for each other. Tilly's hands could not keep still. They made their way through Jen's hair, caressing her silky locks and then ran down her back to her waist. Their tongues entwined, with both loving the feeling of being so connected. As the kiss got more heated, Jen's hands explored underneath Tilly's shirt. Her fingers stroked the soft skin of the bottom of Tilly's back before moving round to her stomach, moving their way gradually upwards. The tips of her fingers found the bottom of Tilly's bra and gently stroked the lace, causing Tilly's chest to heave as she became gradually more aroused. Her hands travelled to Jen's neck, keeping the teacher pulled in close to her. Their bodies pressed together, eliciting a moan from Jen which did even more to arouse the student. They were in a world of their own, completely shut off from the worries about their forbidden relationship.


End file.
